Can't find what you're looking for? Our health information specialists are here to help. Contact us at 800-233-4050 or online.

ADHD in the News - February 23, 2012

A weekly news digest** from the National Resource Center on ADHD: A Program of CHADD

New study looks at medication use of kids with ASD, ADHD (Washington University in St. Louis, February 17, 2012)

"Many children with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) can benefit from medication for related disorders such as attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). "Unfortunately, there is very poor understanding of overall medication use for kids with autism," says Paul T. Shattuck, PhD, assistant professor at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis. As a step toward improving the situation, Shattuck and colleagues studied psychotropic medication use compared across individuals with an ASD, ADHD and both an ASD with ADHD..." Full Story

New York Times Bashes ADHD Once Again (CHADD Leadership Blog, February 21, 2012)

"One could easily come to the conclusion that someone on the New York Times Opinion Pages staff has had a very negative experience with ADHD and is on a crusade to blame parents. Just weeks after printing a highly misleading article, "Ritalin Gone Wrong" by Alan Sroufe, the front page of the Opinion section now has a philosophical essay by playwright Hanif Kureishi titled "The Art of Distraction." Once again someone who has no expertise in ADHD is making highly misleading statements about ADHD and Ritalin..." Full Story

ADHD: backlash to the backlash (Scientific American, February 23, 2012)

"The idea that ADHD drugs might be killing us--and in ways that resemble being bashed in the head--represents just one of several ominous storylines associated with the disorder...The backlash against ADHD--which often targets the drugs used to treat it, the people who have it, and the therapists and parents who make treatment decisions--has again reached a fever pitch..." Full Story

Spicing up Stories Could Help Kids With ADHD, Reading Disabilities (GoodTherapy.org, February 21, 2012)

"Children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and reading disabilities [1] (RD) are integrated into the majority of mainstream classrooms across the country. These children may have similar IQ levels as their peers but often have difficulty with reading comprehension, decoding, interpretation, and sustaining attention. Educators have struggled to teach these children in the best way possible but many times cannot keep them engaged. However, adding a little variety to story lines may be just what these children need to get them hooked..." Full Story

"Overall use of stimulant medications, which are often prescribed to treat attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), has risen slowly but steadily over the past decade in children younger than 19 years in the United States. However, there are significant differences by age group, ethnic background, and geographic location, new research shows. Investigators analyzed data from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) for the years 1996 to 2008 and found that overall pediatric use of stimulants increased from 2.4% to 3.5% during that period..." Full Story

"Psychostimulant drugs are effective for the treatment of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) because when they activate the dopamine D4 receptors in the basal ganglia and thalamus, they depress, rather than enhance, motor activity, new research shows. The finding, from research done in rats, is published in the February 2012 issue of Neuropharmacology and solves the decades-long mystery of how psychostimulant drugs calm, rather than exacerbate, hyperactivity, say the researchers, led by David Erlij, MD, PhD, from the SUNY Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn, New York..." Full Story

"Memory lapses and changes in mental functions occur naturally as we get older. But for many women going through menopause, these memory lapses occur more frequently. A recent report offers hope for women suffering with these symptoms. In a study published in Menopause, Feb. 2011, researchers at University of Pennsylvania found that atomoxetine (brand name Strattera), a medication for attention deficit disorder, may restore organizational skills and reduce memory difficulties in perimenopausal and postmenopausal women..." Full Story

ADHD Children Hold High Perceptions of Themselves (GoodTherapy.org, February 15, 2012)

"Children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) often struggle socially and academically. According to teacher reports, their behavior and performance in the classroom falls well below that of their peers. But when a child with ADHD is asked to rate their behavior or academic and social performance, they often inflate the results. There is abundant research demonstrating that ADHD children have distorted self-perceptions that exceed those of teachers and parents. This could be one reason why children with ADHD do not respond well to treatment that aims to change their behaviors...However, some existing research has suggested that offering incentives to children might sway them to make changes, regardless of their bias..." Full Story

"In adults with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), addition of buspirone prompts no significant improvement over atomoxetine monotherapy, researchers have found. But it still beat placebo, they report in a paper online January 10 in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry..." Full Story

Visual Attention: CMU Neuroscientists Identify How the Brain Works to Select What We (Want To) See (PRNewswire, February 21, 2012)

"If you are looking for a particular object -- say a yellow pencil -- on a cluttered desk, how does your brain work to visually locate it? For the first time, a team led by Carnegie Mellon University neuroscientists has identified how different neural regions communicate to determine what to visually pay attention to and what to ignore. This finding is a major discovery for visual cognition and will guide future research into visual and attention deficit disorders. The study, published in the Journal of Neuroscience, used various brain imaging techniques to show exactly how the visual cortex and parietal cortex send direct information to each other through white matter connections in order to specifically pick out the information that you want to see..." Full Story